Begum Serajunnessa Choudhury () was a member of the 3rd National Assembly of Pakistan as a representative of

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

Early life and family

Choudhury was born in 1910, to the Dewan family of Rajnagar in

Sylhet District Sylhet District (), located in north-east Bangladesh, is one of the four districts in Sylhet Division, which contains Sylhet, the regional capital. History Sylhet District was established on 3 January 1782, and until 1878 it was part of Benga ...

Eastern Bengal and Assam Eastern Bengal and Assam was a Presidencies and provinces of British India, province of British India between 1905 and 1912. Headquartered in the city of Dacca, it covered territories in what are now Bangladesh, Northeast India and North Bengal, ...

, British India. Her father, Dewan Abdul Halim Chowdhury, was an influential

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims (; ) 'Mussalman'' also used in this work./ref> are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising over 70% of the global Bengali population, they are the second-largest ...

zamindar A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal lord of a ''zamindari'' (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian was the official language; ''zamindar'' is the ...

. She was privately educated at her home, where she studied

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

, English and

Islamic studies Islamic studies is the academic study of Islam, which is analogous to related fields such as Jewish studies and Quranic studies. Islamic studies seeks to understand the past and the potential future of the Islamic world. In this multidiscipli ...

. She married

Abdur Rasheed Choudhury Abdur Rasheed Choudhury (; died 1944) was a Bengali politician from Sylhet. Early life Choudhury was born to Bengali Muslim parents from Dargapasha, Sunamganj. Career Chowdhury and Abdul Matin Chaudhary together established Minar Printing an ...

of Dargapasha, a member of the

Assam Legislative Assembly The Assam Legislative Assembly is the unicameral Assam Legislature, legislature of the List of states and union territories of India, Indian state of Assam. It is housed in Dispur, the capital city of Assam, geographically situated in present L ...

and later a member of the

Central Legislative Assembly The Central Legislative Assembly was the lower house of the Indian Legislature, the legislature of British India. It was created by the Government of India Act 1919, implementing the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms. It was also sometimes calle ...

in Delhi. They lived in Rashid Manzil,

Sylhet Sylhet (; ) is a Metropolis, metropolitan city in the north eastern region of Bangladesh. It serves as the administrative center for both the Sylhet District and the Sylhet Division. The city is situated on the banks of the Surma River and, as o ...

and had seven children; five sons, including

Humayun Rashid Choudhury Humayun Rasheed Choudhury (; 11 November 1928 – 10 July 2001) was a Bangladeshi career diplomat and Speaker of the Bangladesh National Parliament from 1996 to 2001. He was elected president of the 41st session of the UN General Assembly in 19 ...

and Faruk Rashid Chowdhury, and two daughters.

Career

After the death of her husband in 1944, Serajunnessa Choudhury undertook the management of his

i property and tea gardens. She became the managing director of Rashid Enterprises Limited and Hamdard Tea Company Limited, the vice-chairman of Pakistan National Tea Association, mutawalli (guardian) of the Serajnagar and Rashidabad Waqf Tea Garden. She also served as a member of the managing committee of the Durgapasha Abdur Rashid Kindergarten. Choudhury was a member of the 3rd

National Assembly of Pakistan The National Assembly of Pakistan, also referred to as ''Aiwān-ē-Zairīñ'', is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, with the upper house being the Senate of Pakistan, Senate. As of 2023, the National Assem ...

. In parliament, she questioned why all the service branch headquarters were located in

West Pakistan West Pakistan was the western province of Pakistan between One Unit, 1955 and Legal Framework Order, 1970, 1970, covering the territory of present-day Pakistan. Its land borders were with Afghanistan, India and Iran, with a maritime border wit ...

Death

She died in 1974, in

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. Begum Sirajunnesa Chowdhury Hall of

Shahjalal University of Science and Technology The Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, abbreviated as SUST, is a Public university, public research university in Sylhet, Bangladesh. Established in 1986, it is one of the leading universities in pioneering research and education ...

was named after her.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choudhury, Begum Serajunnessa Pakistani MNAs 1962–1965 People from Rajnagar Upazila 1910 births 1974 deaths 20th-century Bengalis 20th-century Pakistani women politicians 20th-century Bangladeshi women politicians